2013 Winter Conferences

Biophysics
January 6 - 11, 2013

Single Molecule
Biophysics

Organizers:
Steven Block, Stanford University
Thomas Perkins, JILA

This will be the 7th
biennial workshop on Single Molecule
Biophysics (SMB) held at the Aspen Center
for Physics (ACP), building on a
successful conference series begun in
2001. The SMB meeting highlights recent
progress in the field of single molecule
biophysics on both its experimental and
theoretical frontiers. Topics vary
somewhat every year. Biological systems
covered in past meetings have included
mechanoenzymes (myosin, kinesin, dynein,
ATP synthase, flagellar motors), nucleic
acid-based enzymes (polymerases,
topoisomerases, helicases, etc.), nucleic
acids (DNA & RNA), and aspects of
molecular physiology (folding/unfolding,
binding, signaling, and other
biostructural changes). Featured
experimental techniques have included
fluorescence, optical trapping, magnetic
tweezers, scanned-probe microscopy, and
super resolution microscopy. The workshop
traditionally admits a mixture of
experimentalists and theorists. Biologists
and physicists with either newfound or
longstanding interests in biophysics are
encouraged to apply: all levels of
accomplishment are welcome. The meeting
features a lively mix of students and
professors. The SMB workshop has been
oversubscribed in the past, so higher
priority will be assigned to applicants
presenting important new findings who
commit to remain for the duration of the
meeting. In the event of oversubscription,
a limit of two representatives from each
participating scientific group or
collaboration will be adopted. We will
attempt to award each group or
collaboration one short talk based on the
applications submitted. All attendees are
also invited to present posters.
Prospective participants should submit the
following:

A short abstract (<200 words) of the
proposed contribution along with a title,
names, and affiliations of any co-authors.
Abstracts will be ranked and used as a
basis for admission.
• Indicate if you wish the abstract to
be considered for a talk: otherwise, a
poster presentation will be assumed •
Indicate that you intend to attend the
full meeting, if accepted. If a partial
attendance is necessary, please be sure to
state the reason.

In years past, funds have been raised to
help defray a portion of the expenses for
junior participants, or for those
traveling a very long way. Fund-raising
continues and we intend to maintain this
tradition. In addition, one junior
applicant will receive a merit-based
scholarship award from a special endowment
fund for the ACP Winter Meetings.

Condensed
Matter Physics
January 13 - 18, 2013

Topological States of
Matter

Topologically ordered
phases represent a departure from the
well-established Landau paradigm of broken
symmetries. They cannot be described by
local order parameters, yet they have many
peculiar properties clearly distinguishing
them from the conventional
quantum-disordered phases. One of their
most interesting aspects is the appearance
of exotic quasiparticles obeying
non-Abelian braiding statistics.

This winter conference will focus on
topologically ordered phases of matter,
their experimental signatures, and
possible ways of utilizing them as
platforms for topologically-protected
quantum computation. It will encompass
three major directions of the
interdisciplinary research in this field:
fractional quantum Hall systems,
topological insulators and
superconductors, and topological quantum
information processing. The aim of this
conference is to bring together
researchers working on different subjects
related to topological states of matter
and encourage research driven interaction
between them, further stimulating new
ideas and approaches in this rapidly
developing field.

Physical Applications of
Millisecond Pulsars

Organizers:
Maura McLaughlin, West Virginia University
Scott Ransom, National Radio Astronomy
Observatory
Paul Ray, Naval Research Laboratory
Ingrid Stairs, University of British
Columbia
Stephen Thorsett, Willamette University

Millisecond pulsars are
exotic, energetic neutron stars which
allow us to probe multiple facets of
fundamental physics via a variety of
measurements at different wavelengths.
Since the discovery of the first
millisecond pulsar 30 years ago, over 200
of these objects have been discovered,
with the population more than doubling in
the last decade. These discoveries include
many strange and unique systems that
challenge our theoretical understanding
and serve as powerful physics tools. This
conference will be the third in a roughly
decadal series of Aspen Winter Conferences
on studying physics with pulsars. Among
the topics to be discussed are: the
acceleration of particles to highly
relativistic energies in millisecond
pulsar magnetospheres and the production
of GeV gamma-rays by those particles, the
unknown plasma physics responsible for
radio eclipses from certain binary
pulsars, the physics of matter at
supra-nuclear densities and the equation
of state of neutron-rich material, the
evolution of binary and isolated
millisecond pulsars, pulsars in globular
clusters, classical and relativistic
orbital dynamics including stringent tests
of general relativity, and the likely
imminent detection of nanohertz
gravitational radiation using a pulsar
timing array.

Dark matter is a
cornerstone of the cosmological Standard
Model, but we only have evidence for it
through its gravitational effects.
Experimental results to date have provided
inconclusive but tantalizing evidence for
the particle nature of dark matter. In the
coming months, experimental developments
are expected to shed light on some of its
fundamental properties. A significant
advance in our understanding may follow.
The complementary approaches to detecting
dark matter are reaching sensitivities
which will probe many dark matter
theories. At the same time, there has been
exciting new research elucidating the
possible theoretical frameworks for dark
matter. This Aspen Winter Workshop will
focus on synthesizing these latest
experimental results and theoretical
developments, determining the implications
for dark matter properties, and
pinpointing future directions in this
rapidly evolving field.

New Directions in
Neutrino Physics

Organizers:
Andre de Gouvea Northwestern University
Carter Hall, University of Maryland
Gail McLaughlin, North Carolina State
University
Ryan Patterson, California Institute of
Technology
David Saltzberg, University of California,
Los Angeles
Kate Scholberg, Duke University
Cristina Volpe, APC-Astroparticule et
Cosmologie, Paris

Nearly a decade ago, a
clear path forward was developed by the
neutrino physics community. Exciting new
results have recently come out as early
steps along that path. The time is now
ripe to look at new experimental ideas
that have arisen and the performance of
current experiments. This conference will
take the current status of experiments as
its launching point. We will examine new
accelerator and reactor oscillation
results, prospects for learning about the
mass hierarchy and leptonic CP violation,
and potential for observing new physics in
oscillation experiments. We will also
cover the latest developments in neutrino
physics, astrophysics and cosmology more
broadly, including neutrinoless double
beta decay, neutrino interactions, and
supernovae. The emphasis of the conference
will be on how new experimental techniques
and theoretical ideas will impact the
future directions of the field.

For centuries, theories
of planet formation were guided
exclusively by our solar system. However,
the discovery of planets orbiting other
stars (exoplanets) in the past two decades
has demonstrated that nature often
produces planetary systems quite different
from our own, neither anticipated by nor
well-explained by the current theories of
solar system formation and dynamics. The
diversity of planetary system
architectures (the masses and orbital
arrangements of planets) has confronted
astronomers with many new challenges and
reinvigorated the fields of planet
formation and orbital dynamics. Among
these challenges are planetary systems
with multiple planets in close-in orbits,
highly eccentric orbits, and planets in
binary star systems.

In this one week program, scientists from
the fields of planetary science, celestial
mechanics, astronomy, astrophysics and
astrobiology will meet to discuss new
developments in the field of extrasolar
multi-planet systems. The goal of our
workshop is to provide an environment
where these scientists can present new
ideas, discuss their implications for
identifying the most important problems in
the field and chart the field's future
direction.

By winter 2013, the ATLAS
and CMS experiments at the LHC will per
experiment have results based on 5 inverse
fb at 7 TeV and about another 20 inverse
fb at 8 TeV. Following the discovery of a
Higgs-like particle in mid 2012, the new
data will shed light on its properties,
such as couplings to other particles, spin
and CP properties.

The 2013 Aspen Winter Conference on
particle physics will bring together
experimentalists and theorists, creating a
stimulating environment to present and
discuss the implications of the newest
Higgs results. A thorough understanding of
the implications of this observation is
also essential for higher energy runs at
the LHC, including mapping out analysis
strategies and proposing new relevant
measurements. It will also point the new
directions in the search for new physics
beyond the Standard Model.

The Higgs-Quo-Vadis conference will be
formulated to encourage close
collaborations and active exchange of
information, which will be crucial to
unveil the nature of this new particle
that constitutes these days the central
topic of particle physics.